Prison predicament: Strategies for reducing suicide in correctional facilities
In the past ten years, a total of 89 suicides have been recorded in prisons across Baden-Württemberg. The majority of these tragic incidents occurred by strangulation, with the highest number, 43, reported in 2017. However, it's worth noting that the fewest suicides, 5 each, were recorded in 2018 and 2020.
A significant trend emerged, with the majority of suicides taking place in solitary confinement at night. The suicide risk is particularly high during the pretrial detention phase. Prisoners under investigation who took their own lives were more often 40 years or older than sentenced prisoners.
To counteract suicidal tendencies, communal accommodation of prisoners is used in most prisons. Vulnerable inmates in shared accommodation can be paired with an experienced inmate as part of the Listener Project or "Inmates for Inmates" program. In some prisons, prisoners at risk of suicide are placed in cells with surveillance cameras.
In an effort to create a positive atmosphere for treatment, suicide prevention rooms have been designed with spatial considerations and staff controls in mind. The new prison in Rottweil, for instance, includes two suicide prevention rooms and two double cells as Listener cells, and five double cells as Tandem cells.
Prison officers have a duty to prevent suicides and may face criminal charges if they do not take any action to prevent suicide despite knowing a prisoner's suicidal intentions. To identify potentially suicidal prisoners as early as in the admission phase, a criminologically accompanied screening procedure was introduced in Baden-Württemberg at the end of 2022.
Training sessions for staff are conducted to identify risk factors early on. Listener accommodation in Rottweil houses newcomers in double cells with inmates who have a high level of social competence.
While specific, up-to-date statistics on the current suicide rate in detention centers in Baden-Württemberg or a direct comparison with the national average suicide rate in Germany are not available in the provided search results, it's important to note that suicide rates in detention centers are monitored by respective justice and health authorities in Germany.
In conclusion, while the number of suicides in Baden-Württemberg prisons has fluctuated over the past ten years, efforts are being made to prevent such tragedies through various measures, including communal accommodation, the Listener Project, suicide prevention rooms, and early identification of at-risk prisoners.
Management in prisons is actively focusing on mental health, especially in the area of health-and-wellness, to reduce the suicide rate among prisoners. This includes training staff to identify at-risk individuals early, providing communal accommodation with pairings of vulnerable inmates and experienced ones, and creating suicide prevention rooms. Additionally, science plays a crucial role in this process, as up-to-date statistics on the current suicide rate in Baden-Württemberg prisons are monitored by respective justice and health authorities, allowing for continuous improvement in suicide prevention strategies.
